Auto union president under federal investigation for corruption

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Only a few short months ago, President Joe Biden was out on the lines with the United Auto Workers calling on the big three auto manufacturers to raise salaries.

But much like everything Biden seems to be connected with, there was apparently quite a bit of corruption in the UAW.

The union has been under federal monitoring by a court-appointed monitor since 2020, after a corruption case began in 2019 that sent two former union presidents to prison.

The execs had been embezzling union funds and using them to fund lavish personal expenses:

That included bottles of Cristal champagne, California villas, expensive cigars, lavish steak dinners and golf outings.

According to court documents, the new president, Shawn Fain, is now under suspicion as well.

He has refused to give the court monitor access to documents, including financial information.

The court filing lays out the accusations:

A very small portion (approximately 2,600 documents) of the current potentially relevant pool of approximately 116,000 — and with more than 80% of those documents only produced on June 6, 2024, days before the issuance of this report.

The union’s delay of relevant documents is obstructing and interfering with his access to information needed for his investigative work, and, if left unaddressed, is an apparent violation of the Consent Decree.

At the same time, the union board relieved Secretary Treasurer Margaret Mock from her duties (though the bylaws prevented them from removing her from her position), accusing her of misconduct in her financial oversight duties.

Mock says that it’s because she was trying to comply with the court orders and the law.

Mock lodged allegations of her own against the Union’s President that, among other things, the charges against her were false, and that the removal of her authority was improperly instigated in retaliation for her refusal or reluctance to authorize certain expenditures.

Despite union president Fain’s ties with Biden, who he publicly endorsed for president, Fain has taken an “us vs. the man” response to the investigation.

Taking our union in a new direction means sometimes you have to rock the boat, and that upsets some people who want to keep the status quo, but our membership expects better and deserves better than the old business as usual.

We encourage the Monitor to investigate whatever claims are brought to their office, because we know what they’ll find: a UAW leadership committed to serving the membership, and running a democratic union. We’re staying focused on winning record contracts, growing our union, and fighting for economic and social justice on and off the job.